2 Point Muffins

I've prbably tried about 317 low-fat muffin recipes.
To me, they all have a gluey texture that turns me off.

I have finally found my Neo. On the SPARK RECIPES site.

I find the texture was better after they had completely cooled. Also, I added some cinnamon to the batter, not just the topping.

Ingredients:

1 cup old fashion rolled oats (not instant)
1 cup non-fat milk
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 egg whites
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. sugar

raisins or nuts (optional)

Directions:
Soak the oats in milk for about one hour.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Spray muffin pan with cooking spray.
Combine the oat mixture with the applesauce and egg whites, and mix until combined.
In a separate bowl measure and whisk the dry ingredients together.
Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until just combined.
Add nuts or raisins if desired.
Do not over mix the batter or the muffins will be tough.
Spoon muffin mixture into muffin pan.
Combine the cinnamon and sugar and top each muffin with some of the mixture.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until done.
Remove from pan, cool and enjoy.
These can be frozen and reheated in the microwave for a quick breakfast.
Number of Servings: 12

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user JOJOMKE.

Take another minute...

I posted this in the fall sometime, but I just read it again this am and had to repost it.
I know it's a long one, but it's sooooo worth reading and considering, it so hits where my heart is at... wishing you all a soul satisfying day!


Erwin was once in the Middle East and had been..."invited to speak to a group of Muslims, specifically about the history of Christianity. Pressed by my translator to answer a question that I had somewhat evaded, I was left with nowhere to go but to talk more specifically and personally about Jesus. I had been describing to them my own sense of disapointment with and even disdain of the religion of Christianity. They all quickly agreed that as a religion, there were deep problems and inconsistencies between beliefs and practices.

But eventually they wanted to know what exactly was the meaning behind the coming of Jesus. Somewhat apprehensively I began my best effort to translate back into a Middle Eastern context the story of Jesus (after all, this was Jesus' home turf) and, more specifically, why it would be necessary for God to become human. This, from my vantage pont, was the story of God. It's a love story, by the way.

"I once met a girl named Kim."

My translator looked at me confused. I'm sure he was wracking his brain, trying to remember some biblical character named Kim. He stopped translating and just looked at me. I encouraged him to simply translate.

"I once met a girl anmed Kim, an I fell in love."
I continued, "I pursued her with my love and pursued her with my love until I felt my love had captured her heart. So I asked her to be my wife, and she said no." I could feel their empathy, if not their pity.

"I was unrelenting and asked her again, pursuing her with my love, and I pursued her with my love until she said yes."There was huge relief through-out the entire room.

I went on, "I did not send my brother, no did I send a friend. For in issues of love, you must go yourself.

This is the story of God: He pursues you with his love and pursues you with his love, and you have perhaps not said yes. And even if you reject his love, he pursues you ever still. It was not enough to send an angel or a prophet or any other, for in issues of love, you must go yourself. And so God has come.
This is the story of Jesus, that God has walked among us and he pursues us with his love. He is very familiar with rejection but is undeterred. And he is here even now, still pursuing you with his love."

The images we often receive of Muslims are that they're angry, hostile, and violent people. I can tell you that in this moment I knew there was something transcendent that connected all of our hearts and souls together. A belief that was supposed to divide us strangely united us, and I feel most certain that I knew why. Every human being longs for love. The possibility that God is love is an almost overwhelming prospect.

In that moment the story of Jesus was not about who is right and who is wrong, what God's name is and who his prophet is, but what exactly God's motivation toward humanity is. If the message that God wants to get across to us is just about getting our beliefs right, then he didn't need to come himself. If God's entire intent was to clarify right from wrong, no personal visitation was necessary. If the ultimate end was simply to overwhelm us with the miraculous so that we would finally believe, then even God taking on flesh and blood and walking among us was far from necessary.

There is only one reason for God to come himself, because in issues of love, you just can't have someone else stand in for you.

When it comes to love, it has to be face to face. There has to be contact. Love cannot exist where there is only distance. Love can survice distance, but only by the stength of what comes through intimacy.

Like Solomon's lover, God is gong up and down the streeets of the city, traveling the most obscure paths and untamed wilderness, walking on unnamed roads in the most desolate of places, searching for the one he loves -- and that one is you and me and every human being who has ever walked the earth, has taken a breath, and has longed for love.

Religion exists not becasue God loves too little, but because we need love so much. In the end all religions misrepresent God. They either dictate requirements for love or simply become a requim for love. I think many of us have rightly given up on God on this basis alone. We've been told that God is a reluctant lover and that his standards must be met before there can be any talk of love. This is lunacy. Love exists because God is love. Our souls will never find satisfaction until our hearts have found this love that we so desperately yearn for.

God is not passive, for love is never passive, but always passionate; and passion always leads to action."

Crock Pot Love

This is the easiest dinner in the world. Kind of a sweet & sour thing.
MUST be served with rice and corn (in our opinion.)

CHICKEN ROSA

Put enough Chicken Thighs to feed your family in the crock pot.

Mix together the ROSA in med bowl... adjust to taste:
R - Russian Salad Dressing (and if you want to lighten it up you can find a recipe for the dressing and cut the oil down), one small bottle is good for our family of four.
OS - Onion Soup Mix (about one packet)
A - Apricot Jam (a good sized glob, depending how sweet you like things)

Pour the sauce over the chicken and let it simmer away for a few hours.... sooooo yummy.

We're Broken

What kind of parent lets their kid snowboard with a cast on his arm? Probably the same kind that let that same kid walk around with a sore arm for 5 days before they realized it was broken.

So, as I dropped my little darlings off with their sporty-spice father for a boys' night of snowboarding at Big White last Friday, my parting words were, "Adam, don't break anything, because if we have to take you to the hospital because of a snowboarding accident and you already have a cast on your arm, we're going to get a special file at the hospital."

Off they went to hit the slopes and off I went for, what was supposed to be, a nice long evening with some good friends.

9pm Joel calls, "Well, we've got another broken arm"
"Tell me it wasn't Adam!"
"It wasn't Adam."
"Oh, poor Brodie... are you taking him to the hospital right now?"
"No."
"Is he in an ambulance?"
"No."
"What are you doing?"
"I'm not taking him the hospital."
"What are you talking about?"
"It wasn't Brodie."
"uuugggghhhh.... your right or your left?"
"Left" said my lefty husband.
"Meet you at Emerg."

After an amusing 5 hours at emergency including a great "Special K" trip, he came home with his "very professional looking" black cast, a mit-full of drugs, and a subtle disregard for the "keep it elevated at all times" instructions.

Two weeks later, the guy is still suffering. Today had an appointment with the Orthopedic surgeon to check on the progress, and apparently the bone fragments, (when you're 13 your bones buckle but when you're pushing 40 your bones shatter) are settling into the tissue rather than back with the bone. Ouch.

So it looks like he'll be having surgery tomorrow, and then another 6-8 weeks of being casted.

Good times.

Poor Lefty.

P.S. After this I'm disabling the download of my blog to "notes" on FB. If you would like to follow my blog, you'll have to do it the old-fashioned way.